China Opens World's Longest Sea Bridge

The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge, which was featured on Amusing Planet early this year, is open for business. State-run news channel CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.

The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge, connecting the city of Qingdao in Eastern China's Shandong province with the suburban Huangdao District across the waters of the northern part of Jiaozhou Bay, is the longest bridge over water. The 42.5 kilometer bridge is more than 4 kilometers longer than its previous record holder - a bridge over water is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. The six-lane bridge is expected to carry over 30,000 cars a day and will cut the commute between the city of Qingdao and the sprawling suburb of Huangdao by between 20 and 30 minutes.

A satellite image of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge shows the passage between Qingdao to Huangdao Island.

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